Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity is a compelling, emotionally rich story with universal themes of friendship and loyalty, heroism and bravery. Two young women from totally different backgrounds are thrown together during World War II: one a working-class girl from Manchester, the other a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a wireless operator. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends. But then a vital mission goes wrong....

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

>When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train

An absolute delight of a debut novel by William Kuhn - author of Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books - Mrs Queen Takes the Train wittily imagines the kerfuffle that transpires when a bored Queen Elizabeth strolls out of the palace in search of a little fun, leaving behind a desperate team of courtiers who must find the missing Windsor before a national scandal erupts.

Breakfast with Buddha: A Novel

When his sister tricks him into taking her guru on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he'd planned. But in an effort to westernize his passenger---and amuse himself---he decides to show the monk some "American fun" along the way.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother's Mississippi home. Starla hasn't seen her momma since she was three - that's when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect.

Norwegian by Night

Sheldon Horowitz - 82 years old, impatient, and unreasonable - is staying with his granddaughter's family in Norway when he disappears with a stranger's child. Sheldon is an ex-Marine, and he feels responsible for his son's death in Vietnam. Recently widowed and bereft, he talks to the ghosts of his past constantly. To Norway's cops, Sheldon is just an old man who is coming undone at the end of a long and hard life. But Sheldon is clear in his own mind.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist.

Seven Years in Tibet

A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet, set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Heinrich Harrer, already one of the greatest mountaineers of his time, was climbing in the Himalayas when war broke out in Europe. He was imprisoned by the British in India but succeeded in escaping and fled to Tibet.

Ordinary Grace

Award-winning author William Kent Krueger has gained an immense fan base for his Cork O’Connor series. In Ordinary Grace, Krueger looks back to 1961 to tell the story of Frank Drum, a boy on the cusp of manhood. A typical 13-year-old with a strong, loving family, Frank is devastated when a tragedy forces him to face the unthinkable - and to take on a maturity beyond his years.

A Man Called Ove

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon - the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell". But behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness.

Take Me With You

August Shroeder, a burned-out teacher, has been sober since his 19-year-old son died. Every year he’s spent the summer on the road, but making it to Yellowstone this year means everything. The plan had been to travel there with his son, but now August is making the trip with Philip’s ashes instead. An unexpected twist of fate lands August with two extra passengers for his journey, two half-orphans with nowhere else to go. What none of them could have known was how transformative both the trip - and the bonds that develop between them- would prove....

Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

With a fun and folksy way of addressing its audience, Keep Moving serves as an instruction audiobook on how to embrace old age with a positive attitude. The chapters are filled with exclusive personal anecdotes that explore various themes on aging: how to adapt to the physical and social changes, deal with loss of friends and loved ones, stay current, fall in love again, and "keep moving" every day like there's no tomorrow.

The Dead Key

It's 1998, and for years the old First Bank of Cleveland has sat abandoned, perfectly preserved, its secrets only speculated on by the outside world. Twenty years before, amid strange staff disappearances and allegations of fraud, panicked investors sold Cleveland's largest bank in the middle of the night, locking out customers and employees and thwarting a looming federal investigation. In the confusion that followed, the keys to the vault's safe-deposit boxes were lost.

Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons From a Small-Town Obituary Writer

As she was digging deep into the lives of community members, Heather Lende, the obituary writer for her tiny hometown newspaper in Haines, Alaska, began to notice something. Even the crustiest old Alaskan sourpuss who died in a one-room cabin always had Halloween candy for the neighborhood kids, and the eccentric owner of the seafood store who regularly warned her about government conspiracies knew how to be a true friend - his memorial service was packed.

The Life We Bury

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran-and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden: A Novel

In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at 10, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young, be it from drugs, alcohol, or just plain despair. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just 15, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her possession. Then things take a turn for the worse....

Flowers for Algernon

Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain. They hope the operation and special medication will increase his intelligence, just as it has for the laboratory mouse, Algernon.

Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

They destroy plant diseases. They break down toxins. They plough the earth. They transform forests. They’ve survived two mass extinctions, including the one that wiped out the dinosaur. Not bad for a creature that’s deaf, blind, and spineless. Who knew that earthworms were one of our planet’s most important caretakers? Or that Charles Darwin devoted his last years to studying their remarkable achievements?

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.

If one George Carlin audio is funny, then two are funnier and three must be funniest, right? That's our thinking behind this new collection. t's a HighBridge library of laugh-out-loud, award-winning recordings featuring George himself performing many of his best bits.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Born poor and hydrocephalic, Arnold Spirit survives brain surgery. But his enormous skull, lopsided eyes, profound stuttering, and frequent seizures target him for abuse on his Indian reservation. Protected by a formidable friend, the book-loving artist survives childhood. And then - convinced his future lies off the rez - the bright 14-year-old enrolls in an all-white high school 22 miles away.

The Mermaid's Sister

There is no cure for being who you truly are.… In a cottage high atop Llanfair Mountain, sixteen-year-old Clara lives with her sister, Maren, and guardian Auntie. By day, they gather herbs for Auntie's healing potions. By night, Auntie spins tales of faraway lands and wicked fairies. Clara's favorite story tells of three orphan infants—Clara, who was brought to Auntie by a stork; Maren, who arrived in a seashell; and their best friend, O'Neill, who was found beneath an apple tree. One day, Clara discovers shimmering scales just beneath her sister's skin.

The Sound of Glass

It has been two years since the death of Merritt Heyward's husband, Cal, when she receives unexpected news - Cal's family home in Beaufort, South Carolina, bequeathed by Cal's reclusive grandmother, now belongs to Merritt. Charting the course of an uncertain life - and feeling guilt from her husband's tragic death - Merritt travels from her home in Maine to Beaufort, where the secrets of Cal's unspoken-of past reside among the pluff mud and jasmine of the ancestral Heyward home on the Bluff.

The Screwtape Letters

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C. S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging and humorous account of temptation - and triumph over it - ever written.

Publisher's Summary

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared has charmed over 2 million people around the world.

How far can a story go when the protagonist starts off at 100? The answer is everywhere and anywhere. With a shifting time line, Jonasson weaves an incredible story about a remarkable man, Alan Carlson, an explosives expert with a calm temperament. Alan gets himself into more binds than Houdini, and like the great magician, wiggles his way out.

The story is not only funny, but gives the reader a lesson in Twentieth Century history. Jonasson manages to combine "Forrest Gump" with "Zelig" and comes up with an unforgettable character whose exploits manage to effect world history.

I could not give a fifth star for story only because Carlson found himself in way too many predicaments.

A funny, funny (in a dry humor, tongue-in-cheek, sort of way) book that is fascinating! Full of surprises and unexpected events. I am enjoying it sooo much! And the narrator is perfect! I listen to it on my audible.com app on my iPhone and laugh out loud a lot. I imagine, that when I am driving and the phone sits on the dash playing away, and I guffaw for several seconds, other drivers must get a bit alarmed, since there appears to be no obvious reason for my behavior. Take a listen to it and you will understand! Highly recommended!

What about Steven Crossley’s performance did you like?

Sounds almost as if he is narrating something about which he has personal knowledge. Like he, himself, had witnessed the events!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had the uninterrupted time I would. As it was, this afternoon, for instance, my dog tore apart several things in the other room while I listened to the book, rapt, and oblivious to the noises from the other end of the house! The book REALLY engages me!!!

Any additional comments?

If you know someone with a dry sense of humor or who likes quirky stories, this is the book for them! What a wonderful gift it would make for the holiday season! Thoroughly entertaining! I could imagine a group sitting and listening...and laughing and laughing! Why, they might even want to pause the reading and discuss parts of the story, considering how much history is brought up in it! A book that would be of interest and understandable equally for Europeans and Americans, which is not all that common among books.

I started this book and was really enjoying it when I decided to restart it because it would be good for the kids too. They are 11 & 13 and both loved it. They listened to it superficially while my wife and I listened to the rest of the story that is so cleverly interwoven with historical events. We laughed - it is great.Warning, the language was a bit strong for the kids, though I am sure nothing they have not already heard at school. They got a stern warning not to repeat any of it.It is a bit of a shame really, because the book would still be great without the more foul language and then it would be a perfect book to listen to with kids down to about 9 or 10. (There is only a little here and there. F@#k was the bothersome one for me with the kids)

I listened to this book on a lark - not knowing what to expect. The premise is unusual: a centenarian (Allan) "escapes" from a nursing home and goes on a wild adventure. While this adventure is unfolding, a parallel story is told about Allan's past. And what a past it is! Without spoiling the fun and inventive story telling, let's just say that Allan got around in his youth, met most of the major international players of his day, and was indirectly involved in some of the world's most pivotal geo-political-military events as well.

But back to the main story. Allan is quite the rascal and he meets up with a cast of other rascals. Along the way, they engage in remarkable acts of criminal conduct (with a wink and a nod) with little concern for the morality of their conduct. Told in a light hearted and playful manner, this book is not meant to be taken too seriously. As my "headline" notes, it is fun, inventive, and (at times) silly.

To the extent that there is a downside, there were many times when I was struck by how preposterous the story was. But I quickly concluded that I was missing the point. Despite this concern, this is a very well written and narrated story. If you are looking for something fun, this is the book for you.

Absolutely, the life and adventures of this man is so fun to listen to and pass along to others.

What did you like best about this story?

The whimsical optimism of the main charachter Allen - a feisty, rolliker and humdinger of a chap that simply figures all of lifes problems can be solved with a vodka, a 'why not' venture and an explosion. Sounds like what my relatives would do!

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Crossley brings a sense of identity towards each charachter in the story. Well done!

Who was the most memorable character of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and why?

Allen of course, he sounds like a blend of a few of my relatives but without the optimism, but definatlely the 'why not?' sense of life.

Allan Karlsson has lived a charmed life and he is in no mood to celebrate an upcoming 100 year party under the thumb of a domineering nursing home employee. So he climbs out a window and embarks on a fantastic adventure.

As this tale unfolds we are given flashbacks of his life that involve meeting several pivotal politicians of the last 100 years. Alan has a very refreshing optimism about life while disdaining the worst in politics and religion of all stripes.

It turns out that this simple sounding man had a lasting impact on our recent history and instead of sneering at this whimsical romp through the last century I found myself cheering the fantastic encounters with key people at crucial times. Alan's guileless observations and the authors modest descriptions of complicated historical events actually deliver a lot of wisdom.

Steven Crossley provides a superb voice to the 100 year old man and to the narration of this story by Jonas Jonasson. If you are looking for a delightful time with something a bit different then give this book a listen.

This story totally deserves the international bestseller title. With infectious characters and delightful dark humor Jonasson has brought a very unique telling of some of modern history’s darkest moments to the table. Karlsson’s a protagonist you can really stand behind, his ever-constant jovial perspective on life seeps into your head as you read - reading just a chapter easily turned a few of my own sour moods around! Through lies, deceit, and unbelievable outcomes of some of the stickiest situations imagined it’s odd that friendship, however short-lived on occasion, abounds in this story. Its appearance brought this hilarious tale, down-to-earth and let the best of human nature shine.

I don’t think I’d have enjoyed this book as much as I did if it weren’t for my digesting it in an audio form. The narrator did a marvelous job and the story unfolded so perfectly, it just felt like a story that needed to be read aloud. Highly entertaining and laugh-out loud funny.

This jolly little caper was recommended to me based on my favorable review of “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”. While I did enjoy that lovely book very much, this selection resembles it only in the premise of an impromptu journey by a geriatric gentleman. This story could be the result of Carl Hiaasen blending Harold Fry with Forrest Gump and adding his own patented lunacy to the mix. There are two storylines at work: the current day journey of Allan Karlssen and the entourage he accumulates while trying to evade a biker gang and the police, and the historical journey of his very eventful Gump-like life that collides with every major global event from 1920 to the fall of the Soviet Union.

I found the current day story line the more entertaining of the two. Readers of Hiaasen’s books will enjoy the very dry, dark humor and root for the inevitable come-uppance dealt by karma as our merry band of fugitives dodge every peril, encouraged by Allan’s optimistic belief that “it is what it is, and what will be will be.” The historical sections were very Gumpish (as noted by many other reviewers), but better because through Allan’s stubbornly apolitical viewpoint, no country or political party escapes a dark satirical skewering. My only complaint was how revisiting history slowed down the more entertaining escape story. Still, it is only a small complaint, because there comes a scene near the end when all those previous historical encounters are bundled together to great hilarity at one person’s expense.

For those who enjoyed Harold Fry for the sweet, gentle tone and ultimately life redeeming message, you may not respond well to the darkness in this story if you are hoping for a repeat. Hiaasen’s fans will have to adjust to a very British reader and a more dry delivery than that author employs. But if those adjustments can be made, if you can just hop on board and take the journey with Allan, then you may be very pleased with “what it is, and what will be.”

This is an amusing story, but satire is difficult medium to sustain for the length of a novel. The protagonist, Allan Karlsson, is a lot like Forrest Gump, with similar attributes other than being mentally retarded, bumbling into situations in which he is regarded as brilliant. The style is also similar inasmuch as it is episodic. The author alternates between the present time (2005) and earlier periods of Allan's life, and it works for a while but also gets a bit stale. One difference from Gump is Allan's capacity to drink unlimited quantities of vodka and other forms of alcohol, but that is in character with his being Swedish, I suppose. In order to appreciate this book, you need to approach it like a cartoon or comic book, totally unrealistic machinations and unbelievable coincidences. I enjoyed many of the characters but after a while, I was ready for the book to end, and it took longer to get there than I expected.